It’s official. The media herd is on the move and things don’t look good for Sen. Clinton. The pundit media is squawking, flapping, preening and nesting their opinion into every crack and cavern that Sen. Obama will be the nominee.
Jim Rutenberg at The New York Times writes in “Pundits Declare the Race Over” that “the conventional wisdom of the elite political pundit class that resides on television shifted hard, and possibly irretrievably, against Senator Hillary Clinton’s continued viability as a presidential candidate.” We don’t know about “elite” Jim, unless you define “elite” as having the biggest platform from which to spew forth.
Tim Russert, Dean of The Sunday Talking Heads, declared from the “boiler room” of MSNBC: “We now know who the Democratic nominee’s going to be, and no one’s going to dispute it.”
Rutenberg collects snippets of the Pundit Media punditry:
“I think there’s an increasing presumption tonight that Obama’s going to be the nominee,” Chris Wallace.
. . .
Speaking on CNN, David Gergen, a former adviser to several presidents, including Mrs. Clinton’s husband, said, “I think the Clinton people know the game is almost up.”
Stating it more bluntly, Bob Franken, the political analyst, told the MSNBC host Dan Abrams shortly after 2 a.m. Eastern time, “Let’s put it right on the table: It’s over. It’s over.”
. . .
Bob Schieffer on the CBS News program “Early Show”: “Basically, Maggie, this race is over.”
George Stephanopoulos on the ABC program “Good Morning America”: “This nomination fight is over.”
Matt Lauer on the NBC News program “Today”: “Good morning, is it over?”
The commentary was punctuated by some brutal morning newspaper headlines: “Toast!” blared The New York Post; “Hil Needs a Miracle” declared The New York Daily News.
Yet another example of how quickly and predictably the media can go from Flock Alert to Herd Alert. A Migration Alert that Obama is the nominee is on the horizon.
Does anyone remember the “gas tax holiday” that was supposedly the “defining issue” of both Indiana AND North Carolina? Were the results in Indiana and North Carolina so spectacularly different from what the polls had predicted? What was it that caused such a cascade of pundit media?
Bottom Line: The Pundit Media couldn’t wait to pronounce Sen. Obama the nominee. It’s a game amongst the punditry to see who can first and most authoritatively announce the new narrative. Watch carefully for the following narratives over the coming days and weeks:
- How long will Clinton stay in the race?
- How does Obama match up against McCain?
- Clinton loaning money to her campaign is a “bad sign.”
- You’ll begin to hear A LOT about the supposed “nuclear option” where Clinton will attempt to get the Michigan and Florida votes. The media LOVES anything termed a “nuclear option” because it signals something very important and very devastating and consequently worthy of their punditry.
- Is Clinton ripping the party apart?
One thing you will not hear much more about the “gas tax holiday.” Can someone please email us the link to Clinton’s legislation she supposedly introduced on this matter? It’s unbelievable that the “gas tax holiday” was ever an issue considering it was dead on arrival because Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is against it and wouldn’t introduce the legislation anyway.
